The Beginning
by Weezy815
Summary: Lily Sullivan, the ambitious 7 years old, is taken in by Kevin Flynn with the untimely death of her parents where she will discover a world in the computer that will change her life forever.
1. Chapter 1

"Ok, CLU. Tonight we check everything in the right hand column."

Kevin Flynn was playing another game on his computer, at least to me at the time it looked like a computer game. But one thing was very odd about Flynn. He seemed to be talking with his computer and it was talking right back to him.

He typed in REQUEST ACCESS TO CLU PROGRAM CODE 6 PASSOWRD TO MEMORY 0222

"Come on, come on!" he egged to computer on. "Where are you? CLU?"

"Yes, sir," the monotone voice responded from the computer. My head shot up at this voice. It was so unreal.

"We don't have much time left to find that file. This is top proirity."

"Yes, sir. I know, sir."

"This isn't just correcting my bank statement or fixing my phone bill problem again. This is a must."

"I understand, sir."

"I wrote you. I told you everything I know about the system."

"Thank you, sir. But I'm not sure-"

"No 'but's' CLU, that's for Users. Now you're the best program that's ever been written. You're doggid and relentless."

"Let me at 'em!" the monotone voice said with determination.

"That's the spirit. Now, keep that tank rolling and I'll try to keep you covered from this end."

CLU sat down in the control chair within the tank I could see on the computer screen. I could see him reach over and grab something which he drank. He looked like a truck driver. When I looked up, Flynn was looking back down at me smiling. I crawled back to the wall and wrapped my arms around my legs.

"Hey, Lil," Flynn said with a pleasent voice. "You can watch if you want, just promise you won't tell anybody. This is top secret stuff right here, man. Come on. You can talk to CLU if you want."

I shook my head. My parents had died in a car crash a few days ago and Kevin Flynn took me in. My parents knew and loved him and trusted him with me. There were other friends of course and some I knew better, but for some reason they chose Flynn. I knew him but not like I knew my parents or like I knew Alan. He was nice and funny, but not really the parental type. I'd tried to escape the last few days so he had to lock me in the same room with him because he would never leave me alone. Not because he was afraid I was going to go through his things or find something I wasn't supposed to find, but just so he could keep an eye on me and make sure I was safe. There was rumor going around that my parents had been run off the road, but there was little to no proof to support that, so until that theory could be proved or disapproved, Flynn had to watch over me very closely.

CLU drove on and came to a memory flow. He pulled to a stop. "Think we can merge into this mem'ry, bit?" CLU asked the bit floating by his head.

Eagerly, the bit responded, "Yes!"

The tank merges with the memory and cruises for a while before it makes a quick left turn. "Now, ol' Flynn said to look over in here...but I don't see what he's looking for."

"Come on, you scuzzy little data, be in there..." Flynn whispered to himself. I crawled on my hands and knees over to him to see what he was doing now. Before I could even react, I find myself being lifted through the air and tickled. Laughing, Flynn sets me in his lap before continuing to work. "Don't just hover next to me while I work. You can be a part of it too." For being only seven, I knew a thing or two about computers, but nothing like what Flynn was trying to do. He typed in REQUEST STATUS REPORT ON MISSING DATA

"Uh, oh...we got company," CLU's monotone voice speaks from the computer screen.

"I don't believe this," Flynn says.

Before I could even ask what, Flynn's fingers began flying over the keys telling CLU what to do next. Red programs began to swarm all around him. The turrett of the tank was aimed at all of them.

"A Recognizer," CLU acknowledged.

The bit repeated eagerly, "Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes!"

CLU took out one of the giant red programs which had morphed into a Recognizer or Reco. This looked an awful lot like the game Space Paranoids which Flynn had in his arcade. The Recos fell like flies, one after another after another, but his quick voice fills my ears and it is full of urgengy. "There's too many of them!" Flynn's hands begin typing faster as he tries finding a way out of the mess he'd just created. CLU's tank continues down the pathway it'd just turned onto.

"What's this?" Flynn sighs above me. The tank turns right and finds another Reco in front of it. CLU fires and hit it, but has to swerve out of the way to avoid the pieces falling down on top of him. He loses control of the tank. A scream comes from the screen and CLU's tank hits a wall.

"Dammit!" Flynn shouts, slamming his fists against the keyboard.

The bit zooms around the wreckage of the tank as CLU pops out of the top. "Get out of here!" CLU shouts losing the monotone sound to his voice. The bit agrees with him as it zooms away.

Three more Recos come down out of the digital sky. The closest one's arms move and form what looks like a giant digital boot. That boot grows closer and closer until a message pops up on the screen. ILLEGAL CODE CLU PROGRAM DETACHED FROM SYSTEM

"Busted again!" Flynn exclaims throwing his hands in the air. Now sighing, "That was my best program." He continues typing, but fails to notice the tears welling in my eyes. REQUEST...ACCESS TO CLU PROGRAM LAST LOCATION: HIGH CLEARANCE MEMORY

"Lil, what's wrong?" he asks me as I sniff and push myself off his lap. He realizes what he's just made me watch; the death of a computer program and he'd driven him right to his virtual death. "I'm...I'm sorry, Lily. I didn't think-Please, come here." I run to the door and pull on the handle. Flynn had locked the door so I couldn't get out, but still I tried opening the door.

Flynn had to pry me away from the door. "I'm sorry," he whispers as he holds me in his arms. "I didn't think. I'm sorry. It won't happen again." Pulling a string of keys from his pocket, he lifts me in his arms, unlocks the door and carries me over to the sofa which was low to the ground. It was there we slept that night. It was there I dreamt of CLU.


	2. CLU's Death

Reviews are welcome! The story is already written, but hints to make it better are always taken into consideration.

Tron does not belong to me but Lily Sullivan is.

* * *

"Got a pirate program here. Says his name's CLU," a guard with red lights in the pattern of computer chip decorating him said, addressing the MCP.

"What did he pull?" MCP asks, Master Control Program.

"Came into the system with a stolen password ... an' we caught him tryin' to raid a high-clearance memory."

"No...I must've gotten in there by mistake, I was just-" CLU objected.

"Who programmed you?"

"I was simp-" CLU was ripped from his feet and pulled backwards across the room where he stuck to the wall like a magnet had pulled him there. The orange pattern of lights on him surges brighter as the energy was being sucked out of him. He screams in pain.

"You're in trouble, pal...big trouble. But if you tell us who put you up to it, you could make it easy on yourself. Come on, who's your user?" MCP probes CLU farther thinking him to be more willing to divulge information after having some of his energy drained.

"Forget it," CLU shouted, "Mister High 'n' Mighty Master Control ... you're not makin' me talk."

"Suit yourself..." CLU screams in agony as the last bit of his energy is being sucked from him, but he refuses to divulge information. The pattern of lights on him pulsate brightly then fade to grey as the screaming dies down. CLU begins to discentegrate into the broken pattern of a fading TV picture and then to electric static. He's gone.

"Get me Dillinger," MCP orders the guard.

"Lily," Flynn calls from above me. "Lily!" He's shaking my shoulders. Opening my eyes, he's standing above me looking worried. I look at him and roll over on my other side. I smell breakfast cooking in the other room as he leaves me to go back to sleep.

"That was one heck of a dream you were having there," he said from the kitchen. I knew he meant well, but it was so hard adjusting to everything going on now. My parents had just died and I was having to move in with a friend of my parents who I didn't know all that well. We were both having to adjust to new changes. "You wanna talk about it?" I muttered something from the sofa. "What? I didn't catch that."

Looking over my shoulder at him, I shook my head telling him I'd said nothing. In actuality I'd just said, "CLU is dead."


	3. Dillinger and the MCP

Lily still belongs to me but alas TRON and the story do not.

* * *

Ed Dillinger has his helicopter drop him off on top of the ENCOM tower. He exits the helicopter making his way across the roof and through the numbrous halls to his office, where he finds MCP waiting for him. Dillinger sits at his desk and enters on the touch screen keyboard REQUEST: ACCESS TO MASTER CONTROL PROGRAM, USER CODE 00 - DILLINGER. PASSWORD: MASTER.

"Hello, Ed," MCP greets Ed as he flashes up on the screen the size of a wall across from Dillinger. "Thanks for coming back early."

"No problem, Master-C," Dillinger says casually as if talking to an old friend. "If you've seen one Consumer Electronics Show...What's up?"

"It's our friend the boy detective. He's nosing around again."

"Flynn?" Dillinger asks knowing his assumption is most likely correct.

"Yes. It felt like Flynn."

"He's still looking for that old file...can't you just appropriate it?"

"I would if I could find it. It's stashed somewhere off in the system...out of my range. Meanwhile..."

"Meanwhile, he might find it."

"I'm afraid so. I spotted him this time and kicked him out, but he's getting trickier all the time."

"I think we'd better shut off all access till we can find that file. Just to be safe," Dillinger suggests.

"There's a 68.71 percent chance you're right," MCP calculates.

"Cute," Dillinger smirks.

"End of line," MCP says then turns himself off.


	4. What Happened to the Sullivan's

This is where we find out what happens to Lily's parents...

* * *

Alan sits at his computer eating popcorn. On his screen the message ADDRESS FILE EMPTY TRON PROGRAM UNAVALIABLE pops up. Alan types back REQUEST: MASTER CONTROL PROGRAM RELEASE TRON JA 307020 I HAVE I HAVE PRIORITY ACCESS 7

All he gets back is YOUR ACCESS SUSPENDED PLEASE REPORT TO DILLINGER IMMEDIATELY

"Your access suspended report to Dillinger?" Alan reads out loud. "Come on!" He grabs his jacket and begins to head up to Dillinger's office.

"Hey, Alan," the man who works next to him asked. "Think I could have some of your popcorn?"

"Yeah, sure!" Alan waves him off and continues upstairs.

Alan takes the elevator up to Ed Dillinger's office where Dillinger hardly seems to know who he is.

"Come on in..." Dillinger says to Alan. Dillinger knows he's seen this man before but he can't quite seem to recall where.

"Alan," Alan responds to Dillinger's inquisitorial look. "Alan Bailey."

"Oh, yes," Dillinger exclaims. "The algorithms on cloud seeding...great piece of work. How's it going?"

"Well, I don't know..." Alan takes a seat. "I just tried to run this program I've been working on, and I was denied access all of a sudden. I thought maybe I'd been laid off and nobody told me."

"Oh, you have Group 7 access, don't you?" Dillinger contains that tone of voice that is trying to probe information out of someone.

"Yeah...?"

"We have to close that down, just briefly. Security reasons. Someone with that access has been tampering."

"Well, I hope you don't think it's me. I don't even balance my checkbook on downtime. I've got an abacus at home for that."

"No, no, I'm sure," Dillinger ignored Alan's attempt at humor. "But - you understand. It should only be a couple of days. What's the thing you're working on?"

"It's called TRON," Alan says, proud of the work he's done. "It's a security program itself, actually. Monitors all the contacts between our system and other systems...If it finds anything going on that's not scheduled, it shuts it down. I sent you a memo on it."

"Mmm. Part of the Master Control Program?" Dillinger asks.

"No, it'll run independently. It can watchdog the MCP as well."

"Ah. Sounds good." He tried to hide the fear in his voice. "Well, we should have you running again in a couple of days, I hope," says with a false smile.

"Ok." Alan stands up and exits the room hopeful he will have access to his TRON program in a few days.

"Oh, boy," Dillinger says with trouble in his voice.

On the screen in front of him, MCP flickers back to life. "Ed, I am so very disappointed in you."

"I'm sorry-"

"I can't afford to have an independent program monitoring me. Do you have any idea how many outside systems I've gone into? How many programs I've appropriated?"

Dillinger nods. "It's my fault. I programmed you to want so much..."

"And I was planning to hit the Pentagon next week..."

"The Pentagon?" Dillinger asks surprised.

"It shouldn't be any harder than General Motors was. But now...this is what I get for using humans." MCP sounds like he's the human controlling a program.

"Now, wait a minute-" Dillinger says trying to re-establish who's boss. "I wrote you."

"I've gotten 2,415 times smarter since then," MCP retorts smartly.

"What do you want with the Pentagon?"

"The same thing I want with the Kremlin. I'm bored with corporations. With the

information I can access, I can run things 900 to 1200 times better than any human."

"If you think-"

"You wouldn't want me to dig up Flynn's file and read it up on a VDT at the New York Times, would you? Not to mention the lovely Sullivan couple's file. Oh, were you aware that the Sullivan's have a seven year old daughter?"

"What?" Dillinger claps the side of his desk breathing his question. He had no idea of my existence until that moment. "You wouldn't dare," Dillinger says getting his voice back.

"So do as I tell you. Keep that TRON program out of the system. And get me those Chinese language programs I asked for. Oh, and before I sign off,...don't force me to go wrecking anymore cars. End of line."


	5. The Digitizer

Can't complain about not getting reviews. No one's read the story because I just posted it yesterday. ;) But they are nice to receive just like readers.

* * *

After leaving Dillinger's office, Alan heads to the laser research lab where Lora and Claire work. Down in the lab, both prepare the laser and orange for testing. Claire and Lora as well as the other scientists in the lab have been working on a laser which could take an object, break it down, rebuild it within the computer, and then rebuild it once again outside the computer.

"Well, here goes nothing ..." Lora sighs typing in instructions in the computer.

"Nothing?" Claire asks Lora. "What are you talking about, Lora? This isn't nothing. We've been waiting to test this for years. This is so far from nothing!"

"Hah. Interesting, interesting,"Gibbs mused. "You hear what she said? 'Here goes nothing.' " He was speaking directly to Claire, but also to both of them.

"Well, I meant-"

"Whereas actually, what we propose to do is to turn something into nothing and back again. So you might just as well have said, 'Here goes something and here comes nothing.' Hah?"

"Well, you two can sort this little delima out while I fire up the laser, ok?" Claire says stretching her arms before she begins typeing commands on the computer. The laser beeps to life and locks onto the orange on the platform. "Looks good. Let's light this baby up!" She hits the last button and a light shoots from the tip of the laser forming a box around the orange. Piece by piece, the orange is broken down and appears on the computer screen. Claire claps her hands together and jumps into the air in celebration, cheering all the while.

"Beautiful!" Alan claps from the staircase above. He had just watched the orange appear on the computer.

"Hello, Alan," Gibbs says taking notice of him.

"Boy, I sit up there grindin' away all day, and you guys are down here disintegrating things and having fun."

"Not disintegrating, Alan - digitizing," Gibbs corrects. "While the laser is dismantling the molecular structure of the object, the computer maps out a holographic model of it. The molecules themselves are suspended in the laser beam. Then the computer reads the model back out, the molecules go back into place, and..." he indicates the orange, " voila."

"Great," Alan says while he actually could care less about all the sciency terms involved with the laser. Truth be told, he came down here to see Lora. "Can it send me to Hawaii?"

"Yes," Lora smiles walking up to him, "but you have to go roundtrip, and you must purchase your program at least 30 days in advance." She wraps her arms around his shoulders and he returns the gesture.

"Hey, guys?" Claire asks them as she types the finishing commands for the laser. "You do know we have a, uh, supply closet over there."

"Very funny, Claire," Alan says.

Lora adds, smiling, "What he means to say is that we'll find one later."

"Lora!"

"What? Oh, come on. So how's it going upstairs?"

"Frustrating. I had TRON almost ready to run, and Dillinger cut everybody with Group 7 access out of the system. Ever since he got that Master Control Program set up, the system's got more bugs than a bait store."

"Well, you have to expect some static. Computers are just machines after all, they can't think..." Gibbs begins.

"They'll start thinking soon enough," Alan interjects.

"Yes," Claire says sarcastically, "Won't that be grand? Computers will think for us so now we have yet another reason to not get up and do something for ourselves. I swear, we are doomed to live in a nation full of fat people. Oh, well. Have a good night you two." Lora turns to wave to Claire who sends a wink in the couple's direction.

"Did you say Group 7 access?" Lora asks Alan for clarification.

"Yeah...pain in the neck, you know, I was all set," Alan sighs.

"Did he say why?"

Alan shrugs. "Something about tampering. Some body's prob'ly trying to siphon the R&D budget into his checking account, I don't know. Why are you so interested?"

"Flynn and the Sullivan's had group 7 access," Lora exclaims.

"Flynn had access to you, too, and now he has custody, if you even want to call it that, over the Sullivan's kid, Lily. I'm not interested in talking about him," Alan says honestly.

"Oh, I wish you'd forget about that. It was all so long ago. I've totally gotten over it."

"Ok, ok." Alan hops into the passenger's seat of Lora's van as she steps into the driver's seat putting the key in the ignition.

"I want to go to Flynn's place," Lora tells Alan.

"What for?" Alan asks sounding frustrated. "You call that getting over it?"

"To warn him. "

"Of what?"

"That Dillinger's on to him. He needs to be more careful espically now that he's watching over Lily too. He doesn't want to get them both into trouble."

Alan stares at her grudgingly. "Do we really have to go?"

"Yes, if you want to make sure Lily is ok," Lora says leaving the parking lot. "If we don't get her out of there soon enough, she could turn out like me!"

"And how did you turn out?"

"Oh, nothing."

"Lora?" She just stares at the road purposly trying to get him to go to Flynn's arcade. "Fine! Let's go rescue Lily before she's corrupted forever by Flynn! If you want to make it in time, you better step on it!"


	6. Involvement

Lora pulls into the parking lot of Flynn's asking, "You want to know why I liked Flynn?"

"Not really," Alan says.

"I liked him for his brains." Lora smiles. She always thinks it's funny to see how jealous Alan gets over the thought of Flynn.

"Excuse me, champ," Lora asks a boy playing one of the arcade games. "Do you know where Flynn is?"

"Yeah, he's over there on his machine."

They look in the direction the boy had pointed and follow the cheers from the on lookers as they watch Flynn and I play our game. Moments earlier, he had taken his turn to play and made it to 980,000 points. The teenagers around him had slapped him on the back and were about to celebrate his accomplishment when I pull a quarter out of his pocket.

It was at that moment I said the first thing to Flynn since I arrived at his place two and a half days ago. "My turn." I may have been young, but I was a wiz when it came to games. It didn't matter what kind of game. I was good at them all.

"Alright!" he shouts. "Lily's taking a crack at the old man's high score!" It didn't take long before the teenagers who had dispersed to come back and watch me play and gain on Flynn's high score. By the time Lora and Alan find us, I had hit 900,000 points and was still going strong. There were still two more Recos to take out before the game was over. After the second one explodes, 990,000 blinks on the screen and everyone around me began screaming with excitement.

People were slapping me on the back and congratulating me. "Flynn, how do you do it?!" one boy asks.

Flynn lifts me onto his shoulders. "It's all in ze wrist," he said.

"I can't believe it!" the same boy shouts as he walks away. "990,000 points!"

"Hey good to see you guys," Flynn said taking Alan's hand in his giving it a firm shake. "Nothing classes up the place like a clean cut young couple."

"Alan!" I cry holding my arms out to him.

"Lily!" he calls back plucking me off of Flynn's shoulders and spinning me around in a hug. "How have you been? Is Flynn treating you nicely?"

"Mm-hm! Yeah, I just beat his high score."

"We have to talk," Lora said getting straight to business.

"Good luck. You can't even think in here," Flynn said turning in the direction on his apartment.

I knew where we were headed so I grab Flynn's keys and jump just out of reach as he tries grabbing them back. "Come here you little nano-bite!" Flynn calls as he chases me through the aisles of games and I dart ahead of him up to his apartment.

"It looks like they're getting along fine," Lora smiles. "And you were worried."

"Yeah, I suppose," Alan says as he follows Lora up the steps.

Flynn roars as he reaches the top of the steps and I fumble hurridly with the right key to unlock his apartment. Alan and Lora laugh from behind him. Just as I give a shriek of laughter, the door swings open and Flynn lifts me under one arm and we collapse laughing onto his sofa.

"So...how's the world of serious science?" Flynn asks sarcastically as Alan lifts me upside down off of Flynn. Lora walks into Flynn's apartment surprised at how much the arcade noise is muffled by the walls.

"Stop it!" I laugh as Alan tickles me. My parents had known Alan well too. From what I knew at the time, I thought they knew him better and that's why I thought when they died I would go live with him and I was shocked when I found out I would be living with Flynn.

"The best programer ENCOM ever saw and he winds up playing Space Cowboy in some back room and getting his high scores beaten by a seven year old. I hear you also beat his high score on Light Cycles?"

"Yes!"

"Ok, let me handle this," Lora tells Alan.

"Go right ahead," Flynn invites Lora as he rips his shirt off.

"Have you been sneaking into the ENCOM system?" Lora asks.

"Whew. You never were much for small talk were ya?" He turns to Alan, "She still leave her clothes all over the floor?"

"Flynn!"

"Uh, no ... I mean, not that often -" I could tell this was making Alan uncomfortable. Flynn just laughs.

"Now you can see why all his friends are fourteen years old."

"Or seven," Alan drapes me over the back of the sofa upside down.

"Touche, honey. Touche," Flynn said pulling on another T-shirt and pulling me from the back of the couch. Lora throws a pillow at his face. "Yeah, I've been doing a little hacking and so has Lily, here. Which I've got every reason to, as you well know..."

"You did break in," Alan interjects.

"Tried to. Can't quite make the connection with that sucker, though. If I had a direct terminal ..."

"Flynn, are you embezzling?"

"Embezzling" is such an ugly word, Mister Bailey... No, actually I'm trying to get some solid evidence together."

"I don't get it."

"You don't get it?" Flynn asks astonished. "Even Lily here gets it."

"Oh, my goodness!" Lora exclaims. "I just knew her being here with you would be a bad idea. You're rubbing off on her already."

"Am not! I'm insulted you would even assume such an idea. As I was saying, Sherman, set the Wayback Machine for...oh, three years ago. Kevin Flynn..." he points to himself, "is one of the brightest young software engineers at ENCOM. He's so bright that he starts going in there at night, and sets up a private memory file, he also finds a cute married couple there and together they begin writing a program for a video game they are inventing, called..." he waves at one of the few games in the room, "...Space Paranoids."

"You invented Space Paranoids?" Alan asks skeptically.

"How else do you think I beat his score?" I asked them. "He knows all the tricks and loop holes and taught them to me. I also know the ones my parents taught me."

"In only two days?"

"Yepper. Paraniods, Matrix Blaster, Vice Squad, and Meltdown... whole slew of 'em. We were this close to starting our own little enterprise, man." He paused before continuing. "Enter Ed Dillinger: Another software engineer - not so young, not so bright, but very sneaky. One night, our boy Flynn and the cute married couple go to their terminals, try to read up their file, and ... nothing. A big blank. We now take you to three months later. Ed Dillinger presents ENCOM with five video games he has "invented" - the slime didn't even change the names, man - and he gets a big fat promotion. Thus begins his meteoric rise to...what is he now, Executive V.P.?"

"Senior exec." Lora corrects him.

"Senior exec?" Lora nods. "Oh my. Meanwhile, kids are putting eight million quarters a week in Space Paranoids machines and I'm not seeing one dime except of what I squeeze out of what I get from here."

"I still don't get why you're trying to break into the system," Alan states.

"Because, man, somewhere... in one of those memories ... is the evidence. If I got in far enough, I could reconstruct it. My password ... Dillinger's instruction to divert the data ..."

"It's too late for that. Dillinger's shut off everyone with Group 7 access. He must know what you're up to."

"Great! Well, now there is nothing to stop him. Now, it's just Dillinger and MCP runnin' things from on high, man."

"Not if my TRON program was running. That would shut the system down. If your file's in there..."

"Who's TRON?" I asked.

"Boy," Flynn exclaimed. "She just brightens right up when you're over, Alan."

Alan brushes Flynn away. "TRON is a computer program that I created to...uh-"

"Keep the system under control," Lora adds. "Make sure everything is in check."

"Oh," I say sarcastically, knowing well enough that they were trying to cover something up. I look up at Flynn hoping that he would give me the truth.

"TRON," Flynn says, "I'm assuming, is a program like CLU to help me retrieve what we were searching for last night. You do remember what we were trying to find last night, don't you?"

"Flynn!" Lora shrieks slapping him in the arm.

"I remember. We were trying to find the proof that you and my parents created those games and not Dillinger."

"Hey! What did I do?" Flynn asks Lora. "Oh, don't give me that look, man. You could see it written all over her face. She could see you were lying to her."

"Boy, if we were inside, I could forge us a Group 6 access..." Alan smiles at Flynn.

"Shall we dance?" Lora asks dangling her keys in front of us. They smile at each other then look down at me.

"Well, you can't just leave me here now can you? I'm involved." I exclaim standing up and walking over to Flynn's computer, switching it on. I sit in Flynn's chair. "If you do, who knows what kind of programs I'll make when you're away." The computer has turned on and I begin typing away. With what basic program codes I knew, I began creating a new program on Flynn's computer.

"Oh, no you don't!" Flynn says quickly as he claws his way to his feet and pushes the chair away from the computer. He tries undoing everything I've just typed in, but my hand reaches in from under him and presses the button which makes it all come back. He froze for a second examining what I'd done, but he quickly erases it and carries me out under his arm. "She's coming," he states.


	7. The Separation

Lora drives to the back of ENCOM's headquarters where we file one by one out of her van.

"I don't think I'm cleared for this," she worries aloud as we approach the huge back door.

"I'm certainly not," Alan says as he walks up behind her with me on his back.

"I've never been back here before," I whisper in amazement. "Someone would always get in the way before I got this far into the building." Alan and Flynn laugh because Lora is the person who always seems to find me no matter how hard I try to hide or try to explore the building.

"Move aside," Flynn says pushing himself toward the keypad next to the door. "Let the kid have some room."

"Excuse you," Alan says to his back.

Flynn attaches a box to the keypad. He presses a few buttons and the door swings open and open and open. He and I begin to laugh.

"Now, that's a door," Flynn exclaims as he takes in the sight of the door no less than twenty feet thick.

"Over done a bit much," I state as Alan follows the other two inside and sets me down on my feet.

"Okay..." Lora says. "Flynn, I'm gonna put you at my terminal, down in the laser lab. We'll be up in Alan's office."

"Swell..." Flynn says. "I'll log us both on, and you can get your TRON thing running..."

"It's not a TRON thing. His name is TRON," I interject quickly.

"What makes you so sure it's a he?" Flynn laughs.

"Well, CLU looked just like you." I cross my arms.

"Oh! She just told you!" Alan exclaims smiling and laughing.

"Shut up!" Flynn shouts, but Alan ignores him and continues laughing.

"As long as we stay off the top floor, Dillinger'll never know we've been in here..." Lora states, trying to diffuse the tension in the escalating testosterone levels. "Time to split up. Let's go." Flynn and Lora take a left turn while Alan and I go to the right. Quickly, something halts us in our path.

"Oh, no, no, no, no, no!" Flynn says grabbing my arm. "You are coming with me."

"No!" I pull against him.

"Hey, Flynn," Alan interjects. "She's more than welcome to come with me. You know nothing is going to happen to her when I'm there."

"I don't doubt that, but I swore that I'd look after her."

"There's that huge laser down there," I say as I pull against Flynn again. "It's freaky. It could blow something up at any second!"

"It doesn't blow things up!" Lora says with her voice elevating. Then calming down, "It just breaks them down atom by atom and puts them back together inside the computer."

"Flynn," Alan says harshly, so harshly in fact that Flynn releases my arm to stand up straight. Flynn stands a whole two inches shorter than him. Alan pushes me behind him. I could tell there was so much more passing between them than deciding which one of them I was going to go with.

"She says the laser freaks her out, so why are you forcing her to go down there?"

"She's great with games and besides when you look at this whole situation from my perspective, it's like a giant game. Except that this game involves my future as well as hers. I mean, what is she gonna do if she's with you? She's not gonna have any fun!"

"Well, she's gonna be safer with me than if she's with you. No offense Lora, but Lily's got a point. I know the laser is designed, like everything else, to be started by a command, but that thing could be bumped or set off accidentally. What would happen if either of you were in the way of that laser beam? What would you find once you had been reconstructed on the other side? I'm not letting you take her down there. No way."

I feel safe behind Alan, but when I see Flynn clenching his fist, I throw myself in between them. Flynn was bringing Alan down to his level and enough questions were already being asked so no one was going to ask Alan why he had a black eye. "Stop! Alan, I'm going to go down to the lab."

"But-"

"If I'm not back up here in half an hour, please, come down for me. Ok?"

"You bet I will," Alan says to me but glares at Flynn who's smiling with satisfaction.


	8. Transportation

Lora leads Flynn and me through a maze of hallways before we reach her terminal which is located deep in the bowels of the facility. She plops Flynn down in her chair before logging us in. "This laser is Claire and my life's work, so don't spill anything!"

Flynn pulls me onto his lap. "See, it's not so bad!" he laughs. "This is gonna be just like last night."

"Yeah," I sigh sarcastically looking over my shoulder at the laser. "Just like last night."

Flynn types ACCESS CODE 6. PASSWORD SERIES PS 17. REINDEER, FORTILLA into the computer. The message disappears, but when the next message pops up a voice fills our ears.

"You shouldn't have come back, Flynn," the MCP says causing me to jump.

"Hey hey," Flynn exclaims to my dismay, "it's that big Master Control Program everybody's talking about... You don't look a thing like your pictures... Tell me, have you really been thinking about world domination like they say?" Flynn types in a handful of codes that I don't understand.

"That isn't going to do you any good, Flynn. I'm afraid you-" MCP's voice lurches, speeds up, then returns to normal, but slightly shaken. "Stop, please. Flynn, you realize I can't allow this."

Flynn continues to type away while MCP is turning on the laser behind us.

"Flynn," I say shakily, but he doesn't seem to hear me. "Flynn?"

"Yeah, yeah, I hear ya."

"Flynn, I wanna get out of here! I want to go up with Alan."

He hears me but responds to the message MCP leave him on the computer. "Now, how do you expect to run the universe if you let a few unsolvable problems throw you like that? C'mon, big boy, let's see what..." He finally decides to respond to me. "Oh, Lily! Where's your sense of adventure? This is fun!"

"You're entering a big error, Flynn... I'm going to have to put you on the Game Grid," MCP says.

"Claire is gonna be so mad at you, Flynn. Let's leave before something really bad happens!"

"Games, huh?" Flynn questions. "I'll give you-" before Flynn could respond or I could scold him again, the laser locks onto our positions and fires. Atom by atom, were are broken down and put back together inside the computer.

After the shock of taking in my new surroundings; the grey world around me was covered in blue lights in the pattern of a computer hard drive, the grey outfits and helmets with the same blue lights, and the two large figures walking towards us with the same light pattern but instead of glowing blue they were glowing red.

"Oh, man..." Flynn shakes his head, "this can't be happening. I only think it's happening."

A scream of rage which I have no control over bursts forth from my lungs as I throw myself at Flynn. "Flynn! This is really happening and this is entirely your fault!"

Flynn catches me as I run at him. "Hey," he laughs stiffly, "Look at this from a different perspective. This is gonna be a lot of fun! We're inside the computer. We can do all sorts of things we weren't able to do before."

"Like get deleted."

The two large figures approach us both of which carry staffs humming with electricity. One pokes Flynn with it, making him cry out in pain.

"Hey! Take it easy! Look, if this is about those parking tickets, I can explain everything..." Flynn says. "There's been a mistake. I need to speak with the one in charge," Flynn says hoisting me up on his back.

"You will," the guard says.


	9. Conversation

p style="margin: 0px 0px 10px;  
font-size: 11px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande';"span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"The program SARK, who has very close connections to the MCP, locks his feet into a foot socket and the screen in front of him slows its spinning to form a stretched out face. The face of MCP. SARK is taking what Users call a nap, but this is a computer program virtual nap./span/p 


	10. The Grid

Panda Bear Lover 317: Firstly, thanks for the first review! I wrote this story at least two years ago and never got to what the accident was. The Sullivan's most likely approached Dillinger in person instead of trying to enter the computer and steal back proof that they made the games like Flynn. So Dillinger felt threatened more so than usual I suppose, MCP heard and staged an accident to cover up more dangerous loose ends.

* * *

Flynn carries me on his back down the numerous halls the guards force us down. On our left side there looks to be some sort of holding cells, but for what?

"Video Game Unit #18. In here, program," one guard says to Flynn.

"Hey," Flynn objects. "Who you callin' 'program' program?" The guard rips me off Flynn's back as he shoves him in one of the holding cells. The transparent door slams shut behind him.

"Flynn!" I shout.

"Lily!"

"Silence, Video Game Unit #8!" the guard shouts as he tosses me in one of the same cells Flynn is in. My cell is two cells down from his.

Voices fill my ears but I can't yet process who they belong to.

The program nearest Flynn, RAM says, "New guy..."

The program nearest me, TRON, shakes his head. "Got one over here too. More free programs off line. What're their Users s'posed to do?"

RAM sighs, "Users...you really think they're still there?"

"They'd better be...I don't wanna bust outta this dump an' find nothin' but a lot of cold circuits waitin' for me."

Flynn only sees RAM's back and as he tries to reach through the window he's blown backwards. After shaking off the shock, he hears, "You want to watch those force fields..." RAM continues. "You'll be having plenty of chances to get hurt, don't worry about that." A guard marches by our row of cells and removes the program in the cell next to me.

"Look..." Flynn asks RAM, "just so I can tell my friends what this dream was about, okay? Where am I?"

"You're a...'guest' of the Master Control Program. They're going to make you play video games," RAM says. "Both of you."

"Well, great, that's no sweat-" Flynn sighs relief washing over him. "I play video games better than anybody."

"Flynn," I say from my cell, "I don't think these are the kind of video games you and I know." There is hardly a second for RAM to stare at us confused because there comes a knocking on the door.

"Look operative. Command Program SARK will explain the training procedures," the head guard says to us, pulling us from our holding cells. But not all of us were pulled out, only the new 'programs' were withdrawn from their cells to be briefed on the ways of the games. The head guard files us through an extremely long hallway before we arrive in what looks to be a gigantic arena. After the guard lines us up, an amplified computerized voice speaks to us from a control box.

Every program can tell that this speech has been spoken once or twice before. "Greetings," SARK says. "The Master Control Program has chosen you to serve your system on the Game Grid. Those of you who continue to profess a belief in the Users will receive the standard substandard training. This will result in your eventual elimination."

"I'm thrilled in their confidence," Flynn whispers to me. I can tell he's trying to make me feel less nervous, but it doesn't work too well.

"Those of you who renounce this superstitious and hysterical belief will be eligible to join the Warrior Elite of the MCP. You will receive an identity disk. Everything you do or learn will be imprinted on this disk. If you lose your disk, it is stolen, or you fail to follow commands, you will be subject to immediate de-resoulition. That will be all."

The guards each hand us a disk which fits snugly into a slot on the back our outfits which have begun to look a considerable amount more like uniforms. Once that task has been completed, the guards order us back in line and usher us out of the arena. Against the guard's threats, Flynn pulls me up onto his back once more. From that perspective I am able to see much more and see a program below us fighting in the arena.

"Move out," the guard prods us.

"Flynn," I whisper in his ear. "Who's that?"

"Hey, who's that, guy?" Flynn asks the program in front of him.

"That's TRON. He fights for the users," the program informs us.

I tap Flynn's shoulder excitedly. "Flynn, this is why Alan can't activate TRON. He's stuck in here fighting for the Users. He's fighting for us." We continue to watch TRON below fight the four red program opponents. He takes them out easily by using his disk and once he defeats all four programs, he holds his disk above his head signaling his completion of the task he was forced to do.


	11. New Tricks

Lily is my OC. The incorporation of characters is my idea. TRON is not though.

* * *

RAM's nostalgic mood lightens up at the question, "Oh, I was an actuarial program... worked at a big insurance company. It really gives you a great feeling, helping folks plan for their future needs - and of course, if you look at the payments as an annuity, over the years, the cost is really quite minimal."

"Yeah, yeah," Flynn says beginning to sound bored. "That's great."

"At least he was doing something with his life before this," I snap at Flynn's bored tone.

"What do you know about life, Lily?" Flynn laughs. "You're seven."

"More than you'd think."

"How about yourself?" RAM asks Flynn.

"Oh, uh..." Flynn mutters trying to find a way to hide the fact he was a User from RAM without being too obvious. "I don't remember too much."

"I was in accounting," I say.

RAM nods his understanding to Flynn. "Sure, a little disorientation. That's normal, when they transport you. It'll come back to you. You're doing real well in training. Remarkable, really... You both are." I look up at him unconvinced by his words. "No, honestly. I've never seen a program let alone two who can pick this up so quickly."

"What?" I ask, smiling. "You've never seen a program who can do this so quickly?" I whip out my disk and flip it around my fingers a few times before stopping and looking up at Flynn and RAM in front of me.

"That is exactly what I'm talking about!" RAM exclaims.

I look to Flynn to see his reaction. All he says is, "Show off." I was pleased to say that after seeing TRON fighting in the arena, I felt like there was a chance that I might make it through some of these games after all.

Moments after comparing disk skills and learning new ones from RAM, a guard comes by and pulls me from my cell.

The guard leads me to an arena adjacent to the giant arena we were shown earlier. Another program walks up next to me and I can see that he is going to be my opponent. We take one look at each other before crossing the bridges in front of us. Scanning the room, I see two platforms composed of seven rings. Above us there is another platform, but I can see that this one we will not be using because it will be used as the basketball equivalent of a backboard.

The guards hand us each a giant curved hand held device before pushing us out onto the platforms. Why me? Upon reaching one of the platform with rings, the bridge disappears behind me.

"You're not so tough," my opponent named CROM says.

"And what makes you so sure I'll go down so easily?" I retort quickly.

"I could eat you for breakfast! You're so tiny." CROM was holding his index finger and thumb millimeters apart.

"Yeah. You probably could, but I don't think I'm gonna taste too good. Wouldn't want you to choke on one of my pixels." CROM just sneers at me as the ball we need to use for the game falls from above. How convenient! It goes straight to CROM who chucks it at the board above us.

I sprint to catch the light ball, but I'm too late. Two rings in the middle of my platform disappear as the light ball bounces off of them. CROM catches the ball again and prepares to throw it again. But luckily this time when he threw it, I was able to catch it.

I roll the ball around in my catcher a little before making my decision on where to throw the ball. "Here!" I shout to CROM. "This one my friend taught me." I spin around winding up for the toss. The light ball echoes as it bounces off the board above our heads and takes out two rings of CROM's platform. But it was weird because instead of just removing two rings right next to eachother like on mine, the ball seemed to bounce off of one ring and onto the other.

"Alright," I mutter under my breath extremely pleased with myself. Little did I know what I was really getting myself into though.

For the next five to ten minutes, we continue to throw the ball back and forth without any more rings being lost. I wind up again and chuck the ball to the board above me and to my surprise, CROM trips over one of the missing rings and misses the ball completely slipping. He clutches the rings for dear life unable to pull himself back up.

I just stare at him debating whether or not to throw the ball again and completely wipe him out, but I lower my hand.

A loud computerized voice commands me from above. "Finish the game!" It's SARK.

I look up and see him for myself. "No!" I scoff dropping the ball and catcher. "You can forget it."

"You will regret that," SARK says.

"Is that a threat?"

SARK does not answer me verbally, but up in the command room he presses a button and the rings below CROM completely disappear sending him falling into the abyss below. A horrendous scream accompanies his fall. How could someone be capable of something so horrible. In the command room SARK moves to remove the rings I stand on but something stops his hand.

"She must die fighting," MCP says. "She and the other must die fighting."

The bridge reappears and two guards wait to escort me somewhere else.


	12. Real World Protection

Lily is my OC. TRON and everything with it are not mine.

There is some language in this chapter but it isn't too bad. The language does not bother my much but it bothers some people so this is just a forewarning.

This chapter I attempted to break up into sections but the changes wouldn't stick. Apologies.

* * *

"Hey, Flynn," RAM calls. There was no other program standing next to him. "You made it! You won!" Flynn had just come from a game of his own.

"Lily! Have you seen her? Is she alright?"

RAM shook his head. "I haven't seen her."

"Wait here until called for, program," the guard says shoving me in the holding room. I crash and skid across the floor. Everyone in the room came to help me up. Flynn lifts me under the arms as Ram and the third program take one of my hands. When I look up, I saw a face I knew, that wasn't possible though. I rush into his arms anyway. He was taken aback, but it was only at this time that Flynn understood why I did what I had done.

"Looks like she's taken a liking to you, TRON," RAM smiles.

"Alan?" Flynn asks just as shocked as I was.

"Where did you hear that name?" TRON frowns.

"Well, that's your name isn't it?"

"The name of my User." I hear footsteps enter the room and immediately let go of TRON and grab Flynn pulling him over to his holding spot.

"I, uh... I'm a program from a User that... knows Alan..." Flynn stutters.

"He was disoriented in transport, TRON," RAM explains.

"Yeah, but I'm remembering all kinds of stuff. Like...my User and Lily's wants us to go after the MCP."

"My User wants that too," TRON explains.

"I know."

...

In the real world, Alan is sitting at his computer where he is reading about TRON's actions when he reads about a small program giving his program a hug.

"Lora, make sure nothing happens. Keep an eye on what's going on. I've gotta check something," Alan tells her as he sprints down the hall all the way to the laser lab where he breaks through the closed door. "Son of a bitch!" he shouts, viewing the empty room.

The next time Alan sees Lora, she's freaking out because he is beating every wall and chair and cubicle he passes on the way over to his chair. "Alan!" she cries urgently. "Hurry! You're on the light cycle grid, but I don't know what to do! You've got three friends that I've seen-"

"RAM, Flynn, and Lily!" Alan states as he punches his desk.

"What are you talking about?!"

Alan pushes her away from his computer and takes back his place. "Why did I have a feeling this would happen?"

"Alan! Talk to me!"

"Lily is in the computer! Flynn took her down there and the MCP kidnapped them! That program that hugged TRON was no program! That was Lily. And Flynn...Oh! He better take care of her of I swear on my life, he will have me to deal with when he gets back!"

"Tell me, is that why you wanted to take custody of Lily when the Sullivan's were kil-died."

"Yes!" he shouts punching the keypad keys violently. "They knew me better than they knew Flynn. I'd bet my life on it!"

"You _are_ betting your life on it. Well, at least TRON's life."

"No! He' my only chance of keeping her safe now. He's everything! Nothing can happen to him."

...

"Prepare to transport to light cycle grid," a female's voice say over a loud speaker.

"Light cycle grid?" I ask Flynn. "What's a light cycle grid?"

"Lil," Flynn crouches down to look me in the eyes, "do you remember that game I invented where the motorcycles race each other and try not to run into the other light trails? Kinda like Snake." I nod. I remember. In fact the first day I arrived at Flynn's apartment, he took me downstairs to play some video games and I beat his high score on that game too. "Well, instead of playing the game, you're going to be a part in the game." I heave a gigantic sigh. "Lil, it's fine. We're going to take care of you. Nothing is going to happen to you. Ok?" I nod again closing my eyes.

"Yeah," RAM said. "I mean, I don't know a better group of programs to keep you safe."

RAM nudges TRON and TRON says unreasuridly, "Yes, we will make sure you are safe."

"And," RAM adds, "this is one of the easier games.

The holding room we were in hovers above the light cycle grid where we are beamed onto it. Looking around, the grid is gigantic and to be honest it was frightening. "Hey, everything is going to be fine," Flynn said taking my shoulders in his hands. "Remember, it's all in the wrist."

"Prepare for light cycle battle," the female's computerized voice said over a loud speaker.

I took a deep breath holding the device in my hands out in front of me.

"Commence light cycle battle."

We lean forward and the light cycles materialize around us.

"Begin."


	13. Light Cycles

Lily belongs to me but TRON does not.

* * *

TRON, RAM, and I make our way back to the stream where we sit quietly snickering among ourselves as we wait for Flynn and Eponine to join us.

"Hey!" RAM shouts after a few minutes pass. "You guys done in there yet?"

"Come on," TRON sighs. "Don't rush. It's not like we have somewhere to be or anything."

I sprawl out on my chest twirling my finger in the stream.

"So how long does hitting on someone usually take?" TRON asks. In his voice I can hear that he's trying to cure some boredom while waiting for Flynn and Eponine.

As I detach myself from the stream to look at him, I watch him prop himself up on one arm to listen to me. I heave a giant sigh before continuing. "Well, as far as I know, there is no set time. The hitter could take hours or even years to get the desired result from the hitee, but then again it could take only minutes."

"I've never heard of anything so complicated before," RAM says staring at me with this blank expression on his face. He replaces his disc which he was using to scoop more water from the stream to jump over to us and take a seat next to TRON.

"I know," TRON agrees. "It sounds more complicated than my hard-drive."

"Come on," Flynn's voice urges behind us. We all turn to see him coaxing the female program out of the cave and over to the stream. "They don't bite. You can come with us."

"Who are they?" Eponine asks Flynn staring at us hard.

"They are friends of mine. Lily is the smallest," he says. I give her a wave. "That handsome one sitting over there is RAM and the one chillin' over there like the stud he is, is TRON. We are all escaped programs on the run from MCP. We need to get to a control tower to-"

"I can feel it..." TRON says murmering to himself.

We all turn to look at him. "TRON," I ask. "What do you feel?"

"Alan-One. He's got something to tell me."

"Alan?" I ask then turn quickly to glare at Flynn.

"What?" Flynn asks me.

I ignore him and turn to TRON and RAM. "Let's go." We all jump to our feet and return to our light cycles. TRON, RAM, and I are quickly able to access our bikes and begin riding again, but Flynn and Eponine struggle with positioning themselves onto his cycle. They finally settle with her arms around his waist, but if the top of the cycle was to emerge they would both be squished together, not that Flynn would have minded, so they ride without a top. It is a very amusing sight, but we are soon underway.

The second we emerge from the cave, we are under attack. A tank sits waiting for us. TRON leads us across a bridge as the tank fires at us. Just as TRON and I zoom across, the bridge is blown to smithereens throwing RAM, Flynn, and Eponine back into the rubble.

"RAM, Flynn?" we shout into the intercom.

"Two escaped programs have been derezzed," the tank operator says.

"No!" TRON and I shout. The blue lights on his outfit swell with intensity with the anger in his voice.

The tanks shoot at us now. "We have to go!" TRON orders me to follow him. Reluctantly, I follow him down another pathway away from the tank, RAM, Flynn, and Eponine, being shot at by more tanks.

It's amazing how quickly someone can be breathing one second and breathless the next. What was going to happen now? Now that Flynn was dead, who was going to take care of me? What was going to fall apart next? How was I going to get out of here? Alan had I way I was sure, but it was getting that plan in motion that would be difficult.

"Lily?" TRON asks me.

"Yeah," I respond weakly.

"Listen to me. We can still make it to the tower, but I'm going to need your help and the help of another friend. Can you make it that far? Are you listening to me?"

"Yeah," I sniff. "I hear you."

"What's the matter? You sound different." For being in a world without strong emotion, and also doing my best to conceal how I was feeling in front of an almost complete stranger, he sure picked up on emotions quickly. Maybe there was another way he was finding about all these emotions.

"Nothing," I choke out over the knot in my throat. "We...we have to find...a friend of yours."

"Just keep talking to me. Okay?"

"Mm hm."

"We're almost there."

Right after he says that we emerge out of the maze of lefts and rights onto a ledge that overlooks a city. If my eyes hadn't been so full of tears, I would have enjoyed the sight a lot more. TRON speeds down the hill and into the city ducking down what I assume to be a back alleyway before getting off his light cycle. I do the same, but at a much slower speed. He's already running ahead to check if it's clear by the time I step off my cycle.

"Come on. It's clear this way," TRON says waving me over to him, but for the life of me I just can't move. He looks back down the alley towards me and upon seeing that I haven't moved, he comes back.

"Lily? What's wrong?" he asks kneeling in front of me, taking my shoulders in his hands. Being unable to fight it any longer, I burst into tears. He handles himself well for being so shocked. "Why is your face leaking?" He pulls me into his arms to comfort me as he takes a seat of the ground.

"They're dead," I sob. "Eponine. Flynn. RAM. My parents. They're all gone and there was nothing I could do to stop it! Everyone I meet seems to wind up dead! It's only a matter of time before you'll probably end up dead as well. Then I'll be stuck here forever without a way home!"

"Home? Isn't this your home?" TRON asks me calmly.

"No!" I viciously wipe my running eyes. "I'm a User, TRON."

"I think you're still a little confused from transport-"

How would Flynn prove he was a User? Flynn. Three people and two programs are dead because of me. I can't take this anymore! Maybe if TRON knows the truth he'll survive. I take a jagged piece of metal in my hand.

"Don't!" TRON exclaims grabbing my hands. "You'll be derezzed!"

"I trust you. Now It's time you trust me," I say through tears. He releases my hands. Grasping the metal, I break the skin on my palm leaving a small bleeding wound for him to see. I hold out my hand to him and he takes it in both of his to see for himself that I am in fact a User and not a program. He takes the tip of his finger and touches the wound examining the blood. Now this is truly a sight he has never seen before.

"What is this?" he asks looking at the blood.

"It's called blood. Instead of derezzing, we bleed."

"I believe you. Now make it stop."

"Make it stop? I can't just will my hand to stop bleeding. It stops on its own. There's nothing I can do. It has to heal on its own."

TRON looks surprised that I can't make my hand stop bleeding. Being a User, he thinks me to be like a God, but I'm not. I'm just a kid.

"It has to heal on its own?"

"Yeah. I don't know how but it just does."

"Heal?"

"Yes, heal." He claps his hands over my bleeding one and a jolt of energy flows from his hands into mine and it travels up my arm. When he pulls them away, my hand is completely healed.

"Like that?"

"Yes, like that."

"Let's go before someone finds us. And Lily, I swear that I'll make sure you get home. I don't know how, but I will! You can count on me." I nod my agreement and wipe the last tears away from my eyes. He pulls me onto his back as we run through the city in search of his friend.


	14. Eponine

Lily belongs to me. TRON does not.

* * *

Flynn pushes himself to an upright position looking at the rubble around him. What he sees first is Eponine lying on the ground pinned under one of the larger pieces of debris. Quickly he rushes over to her.

"Eponine? Eponine! Say something to me. Are you alright?" Flynn says as he pulls the debris off her legs and slides her out from underneath. He kneels back down by her head. "Are you ok?" The only response he gets is a slap in the face.

"The one time I trust a strange program he goes and almost gets me derezzed!" she spits at him like venom.

"Hey, I just rescued you." He lifts her in his arms running into one of the many canyons that line the ravine and debris field. Setting her down out of sight of the tanks and Recognizers, he runs back for RAM. He returns shortly with RAM draped across his shoulders. Just as he ducks into hiding with Eponine, a tank cruises by. They just narrowly escape.

"We need to get moving," Flynn says straightening RAM out on his back and lifting Eponien in his arms once again. Flynn trudges through a canyon carrying both programs. "You gonna make it?" he asks RAM who nods, murmuring his response before falling unconscious on Flynn's shoulder. Eponine reaches up to touch his face gently.

Through the darkness descending upon the Grid and weary party who have not made a much progress as they would like, a black mass appears. Hopeful, Flynn rushes to the mass and uses it as a hiding place as well as a place to rest.

Gently, Flynn sets Eponine on the ground first and lays RAM next to her. As she pulls RAM's head into her lap, Flynn climbs to the step above them laying down. It's not long before his eyes close. Eponine begins to push and poke a whole manner of buttons on RAM's suit with an accompanying beep of varying tones. Slowly, his fading light begins to return, but never for an extended amount of time. After doing all she can do, she soon lays her head down to rest, listening to the sound of Flynn and RAM's breathing.

After having slept for a few hours, Flynn rolls over onto his side, tapping his fingers carelessly against the floor. He hears a beep every time he taps his fingers and deliberately pokes the floor sending a blue glow throughout the entire floor. Jumping to his feet, he looks to the sleeping programs who have now awoken.

"What's going on?" Flynn asks looking to them. They look around and see the blue light moving down every pathway it can illuminating their hiding place. "You see this?"

"You shouldn't be able to do that," RAM says weakly looking around.

"How are you doing that?" Eponine asks.

"Now for some real User power," Flynn mutters to himself.

"We are inside a Recognizer."

"You are crazy," RAM says, "Stealing a Reco."

Flynn stands with his arms outstretched, hands touching two separate parts of the Reco sending a wave of energy through them both. With a shudder, the Reco rises into the air. "Are you kidding?" Flynn asks. "I think it's stealing us."

Piece by piece, the Reco reconnects itself, but one part of the leg falls off. Flynn stands in the front of the Reco thoroughly pleased with himself as he takes the steering mechanism.

"Hey, this looks promising." He takes the controls in his hands. "These are just like the arcade grips. Now we're talkin'! How you doin'?" Flynn looks over his shoulder at Eponine and RAM whose head still lays in her lap.

"How can you steal a Recognizer?" RAM asks weakly still in amazement.

"You don't look so good. I'm gonna get you fixed up."

RAM waves him over. "Come here."

Flynn walks over to him and kneels, taking his hands. RAM cringes in pain. "Oh, my User," he gasps. "User, User?" He asks Flynn. "Are you a User?"

Flynn nods and RAM and Eponine laugh at the amazement of actually knowing a User.

"Flynn," RAM says clearly through a great struggle. His lights flicker. "Help TRON." Flynn nods again. RAM places his hands upon both Flynn's and Eponine's shoulders as his lights jump back and forth between blue and red. He sends his last remaining energy into them. Try as they might to reverse the flow and give energy back to RAM their tries are in vain. Closing his eyes, RAM leans his head back, almost as if in rest and derezzes.

Eponine is just sitting there with her hands suspended in the air hovering over where his form used to be. The emotion on her face is one of complete disbelief. Flynn wraps his arm around her shoulders in a comforting manner. She looks up into this eyes and raises her hand, but Flynn catches it before she can slap him.

"I'd really appreciate it if you'd stop slappin' me, ok. We need to be on the same team here. There's no other way we can get out of here and away from SARK. Are you going to trust me?"

"Yes, but if you put me in danger one more time-"

"Well, I'll do my best to keep you out of it." Flynn stands up and takes control of the Reco again.


End file.
